"You always were so careful, dear boy; but that is really unnecessary now. shall give you a cheque for twenty pounds to-morrow for your London expenses. You might go and stay with some friends, and take your time to look about." curse upon them. This was not his home, I but the home of James Gordon's children. "Yes, I think I had better do that; but I do not need the money; keep it for the girls." "Ah! dear Minnie! Yes, her engagement is all I can wish. So fortunate that she did not fancy that young Laurence! He was here so often, I half feared it might come to something, and really he is such a bear, and his position in consequence is not what it should be in the county. Not that I should have opposed Minnie's wishes; you know I always leave my children to do as they like in these matters, except when they fly in the face of true happiness and cannot see the obstacle." "You still believe in the obstacle in my path?" "Poor Austin, my poor boy, you don't know how I grieve for you; how I wish it could have been otherwise; but surely by this time you have come round to think with me. You agree with your mother that the thing is an impossibility?" "Then you see no way out of the difficulty, mother?" Mrs. Gordon shook her head, and then she turned the conversation and went on about other matters, all the while talking as if she were consulting her son, little guessing that on his lips the words hovered: 66 'Mother, did you do it?" But no, he dared not say them, so he also went on talking about ordinary matters. That evening Austin sat up very late over the dying embers. The more he thought the less he saw any way out of his troubles, and the hope which a possible solution had brought back to his mind was harder to bear than hopelessness. Was it simply to prevent him marrying Grace that his mother had done this thing? If so, would the fault rest upon him as well? Why had he not been firm and determined all through? Why had he wavered? Perhaps his cowardice had been the cause of his mother's sin! The clock struck one before he thought of moving. A stillness reigned all through the house, and as he went slowly upstairs he fancied that he was a stranger in his mother's house-that some curse lay upon him and his. If this evil bad been committed, surely there was a He walked on almost stealthily, till on reaching the door of what had been Bee's room, he felt impelled to open the door and to enter. In one corner there still stood the old bureau. How well he remembered his sister standing by it and holding out that small red book, begging him to read it! He went up to the bureau and tried the lock; it was fastened so that he could not open it. Then he sat down and again tried to recall the evening of the discovery. Both he and Bee had then believed in its truth, but how easily had they been made to change their minds when their mother had taken the matter in hand! He saw it quite plainly now; a new light broke upon him. She had every inducement to deny it. Why had he let the book out of his own hands, and why had he lost his temper over his own grievances? In this mood Austin crept out of the room, and went to bed and to sleep. In his dreams his mind still ran in the same grooves; he seemed to be once more handling the old worn diary, and to be turning over the faded pages of the manuscript. Then the writing gradually became clearer; he began reading the very words, then the account of the wedding, then suddenly he saw the name of the church clearly written down-St. Nathaniel in the City. With a start of surprise and a cry, he woke up, and sat up in bed repeating the words. He was awake, he was not dreaming now. He sprang from bed, lit a candle, and wrote down the name. He would go at once and examine the registers of that church himself, and then the truth or the falsehood of it must be discovered. After a long waiting he went back to bed, but not to sleep. At breakfast he looked more cheerful, as he announced quietly that he meant to go to London that day, and might find something to suit him. "I hope you will find something to please you, dear," said his mother, smiling, with no suspicion of the truth. When he was ready she kissed him affectionately, and there was true gladness in her face. He was still free, and she was still first with him. If only he would let her manage his life for him, he should have no reason to regret it; but as Austin returned the kiss he almost said, "Mother, tell me you did not tear that leaf out?" London was in one of its worst atmo spheric moods that day. All was dark and foggy when Austin stepped out upon the Waterloo platform. There was nothing to tempt one to linger, and certainly business was his only object as he hurried on through the City. the book. "Maybe it isn't here, and yet I seem to mind some such name once. Some of the names get a bit squeezed in, but the names is more fixtures than the people, I say. Look here, what be this scratch? Yes, there it is; I took notice of Here the fog was denser and more un-it once because it's that badly written that bearable; but Austin hardly noticed it, he was too much excited to care about the weather. He wanted to reach his destination at once; he wanted to know; but there were difficulties to be encountered before he could find the right man to open the right church door and to let him examine the registers. "It be years ago what you wants, sir," aid the clerk, taking down some dirty folios from the vestry shelf. "In those days we had couples married by the dozen, sir. The string of names that was called out of a Sunday morning took quite a time reading. They do say that now and then the couples could not be sorted. But, lor', sir! now the folks goes and gets married elsewhere. They are all warehouses here now, and the masters live in the country. I call it a shame to do us out of all the fees." "I suppose in those old days there were not many questions asked by the clergy man?" "Lor', no! he had enough to do to join 'em all up without asking questions." I wondered who ever could make it out; but it ain't ever been enquired for before." Yes, there was the name, which, with some difficulty, Austin now made out. It told him that in this church James Gordon, bachelor, had lawfully wedded Grace Giberne, spinster. Austin could hardly go through the necessary form of feeing the sexton and copying the paragraph, and then once more he found himself in the street. The fog was even more disagreeable than before, and the City wore its most desolate aspect. For a little time he walked on without thinking of his road. In fact, he was aiming at no special point, though he chose the streets almost unconsciously which led towards Audley Street. There it was he wished to go; there he would at least be welcomed if he brought this news. But a difficulty presented itself to him. How could he reveal the truth without condemning his mother? This was his diffi culty, and the very thought of her overpowered his joy for Grace. He had always Austin was feverishly turning over the in a way looked up to his mother, chiefly pages of the big book; there were no because she had never thwarted him, and leaves out here, at all events, but he did he had never analysed her real motives; not know the year, and the bad cramped but now the truth had gradually come writing was enough to puzzle even an upon him that his mother had stooped expert. The old sexton began to get im-to-well, deceit, or was it merely delay of patient; it was terribly cold and he had righting the innocent, rather than run the bad rheumatics. risk of losing her new fortune ? hateful money! Now it was no longer theirs, and what they had spent of it they must somehow or other return. And Grace? It was only at this moment that Grace suddenly appeared to him in a new light; not the poor, unknown, hard-working Grace of Unterberg, but Grace the heiress of the Warren. Still, what would that matter? She knew, and others might, if they cared to enquire, that he had wooed her poor and would try to win her rich; he would not let false notions of honour come between him and his happiness. there was another obstacle. How could he put his mother's conduct in a light which would prevent the discovery of what had taken place? "What name be you wanting, sir? Maybe I can help you." "I want the name of Gordon. That was the gentleman's name; the lady's name I do not know." "Be you sure it was here she was married, sir? These old churches do get queer parties tied together, and most on 'em are crazy to part afterwards.” Austin was sure of nothing, but he would not own this, and patiently continued hunting for the name of Gordon. "The parson at that time wasn't plain with his pen," continued the sexton, stamping his feet to keep warm; "but our present minister writes like a sign-post." "It is not here," said Austin at last, with a sigh. "Gordon," repeated the old man, taking That But When he reached No. 19 he paused, fearing to face that real Miss Evans; but surely his message was enough passport for him. So, taking his courage in his two hands, he rang the bell. The same maid opened the door to him, and he tried to look quite unconscious as he asked if Miss Evans were at home. "Yes, sir," she said hesitatingly. "Would you tell her that a gentleman wishes to see her for a few moments?" "What name, sir?" "You need not give any name." "Miss Evans said if you called again, sir, I was not to let you in." Austin felt as if he had received a sharp blow. "But I must see her for a few moments," he faltered. "I'm sure it's no good, sir," said the resolute maiden. "Miss Evans never alters her mind." Austin turned and fled. What else could he do? But his pleasure was spoilt, and what was worse, he felt that he could not write all that he wished to say; he dared not put upon paper anything which might afterwards serve as a witness against his mother. In this perplexity Austin Gordon sought out a quiet hotel not far from Miss Evans' house, and spent the night in trying to find a solution to his difficulty. A MODERN UTOPIA. IT was to have been indeed an Arcadia, our modern Utopia; a place of sweetness and light, of plain living and high thinking, of strict Puritan morality, yet instinct with the grace and beauty of art. It was to have been what the great spirits of the past would have chosen for their ideal home, the promised land which they eagerly desired to see but never lived It was to be the home of an ideal faith, while accepting and propagating the severest truths of science. With all this it was to be so framed as to provide for the general maintenance by the general labour of the community, apportioning to each member his or her share in the general fund according to the honest labour of mind or body which the individual had contributed to the store. to see. It was nothing to the purpose that experiments in the way of new social foundations had never hitherto met with much success-no, not even in America, where there is greater scope for such develope ments, and where people are more easily moved to make trial of them than in the fossilised countries of old Europe. Most people who have read Hawthorne's "Blithedale Romance" must have felt an interest in the social experiment it commemorates -a sort of co-operative farm, in which labour and its results were to be shared by a cultivated community of men and women. But each generation has its peculiar hopes and illusions, and in our own time we have seen the rise and spread of ideas which seek an outlet in some new form of social organisation. Many people may have lived through these latter years, flattering themselves on possessing some acquaintance with the literature and ideas of the period, and yet may not have made the acquaintance of a book called "Looking Backwards," which is not an essay in favour of a reversion to old models, as one might judge from its title, but an effort to construct an ideal state of the future, from which advanced position you look back upon the dismal follies of our present civilisation. Whatever the merits of the book may be, it has been, in its way, an epoch-making volume. And among persons who have "ideas," the existence will be recognised of a new sect-not in a religious sense, for its members are bound by no common creed of that kind-but a sect of practical idealists, who do not so much try to move the world as to create a world of their own in which to carry out their notions. Not that these notions are in any way wild or fanatical, any more than are the holders of them, who are generally people of culture and refinement; not capitalists, by any means, but rather such as serve them, perhaps not very willingly, as ministers, teachers, struggling members of professions, with others brought up to agriculture, but with more wit than money; but, whatever they may be, owning the same currents of thought, and seeking some kind of outlet in the way of carrying them out. The followers of this kind of cultus are more numerous in America, where they have acquired the name of "nationalists," but they are scattered about, too, over England; and if one had happened to meet with people of that way of thinking within the last few years, sooner or later one would hear the mystic word Kaweah! Kaweah, in fact, is Utopia-a realisation of the excellent and humane principles of the new philosophy which is to re place the cruel "struggle for existence," which modern science has conjured forth, like some ill-conditioned demon, from its crucibles, by a more rational and wiser plan. Speaking geographically, the colony of Kaweah is situated on a fine mountain plateau of the Pacific slope of the splendid territory of California, in the valley of Los Angelos, in Tulare County. To the marvellous prosperity of the district local statistics bear witness. In 1879 the assessments on land and property figured up to a little over five millions. In 1889 they reached a total of over twenty-four millions. Certainly there has been a check in this developement, and the far ahead American will contemptuously designate the state as a "busted boom"; but the progress made has been retained. Nor is it to be wondered at, for hera is one of the fairest, most favoured spots on the earth's surface. No more suitable spot could have been chosen for a new experiment in living, for all the conditions of life were there eminently favourable. A splendid climate prevailed on the fine plateau, where the founders of the colony obtained an adequate grant of land. The land was finely timbered, with lovely, fertile nooks and rich pasture. A rapid river dashed past, brawling among boulders and rocky strata marked with mineral veins, or beneath cliffs of rich marble or solid limestone. All kinds of fruit-trees grew and ripened their fruit in the neighbourhood, the vine, the orange, and the peach among the rest. The park-like forest glades were fringed with flowering shrubs, and lovely wild flowers sprang up on every side. The forest that stretched around promised abundance of timber, which the colonists fondly believed they had acquired the right to fell, and not far off were groups of those giant trees which are the wonder of California and of the world. There were deer, too, in the forests, and quail abounded on the uplands, while bear, badgers, and wild cats were not unknown, and their existence added a spice of adventure to the hunters' progress. Altogether the environments of the new settlement were nearly akin to an earthly paradise, and more intimate acquaintance did not dispel the charm. In winter, so called, the nights were cold, but the days were bright and genial; sometimes a light frost whitened the levels as the morning sun rose bright and glorious over the plain, and in the remoter heights of the sierras snow was constantly present. But except for the short season of the periodic rains, perennial sunshine reigned, with bright skies and a genial temperature, tempered in summer with cool breezes from the mountains. Life would not appear to be hard in a climate where a canvas tent is sufficient protection at any season of the year, and where, so pure and dry is the air, it is no great hardship to wrap yourself in your blanket, when belated far from home, and sleep in the open air. In fact, the founders of Kaweah found the climate, as one might say, "just too lovely." Life seemed to be meant for one long picnic. The new settlement was started in 1887, and then consisted of about five hundred members, who shared the same views, and were more or less connected by previous friendship or interchange of correspondence. For future members the qualification was to be a similar correspondence in views on social matters, summarised in the Koran of the settlement-the volume known as "Looking Backwards"-and as a fair contribution to the common stock, the sum of about a hundred pounds, of which a fifth must be paid before the neophyte joined the settlement. The remaining sum might be liquidated either in cash or labour. The society had thus many outlying members who contributed to its funds with the intention of ultimately joining the colony. But it was a rule that no new member should become a settler without a "call" from the directors. In due time the settlers arrived-some from England, the majority from the Eastern States of America, after a long and expensive journey-and established themselves in a kind of extempore city consisting chiefly of canvascovered huts some seven feet by eleven, while sites were marked out for more permanent habitations, each colonist being allotted a plot of land fifty-five yards square for house and garden. The family and female element was strong from the very first, and the women of the colony formed its most successful element. They worked hard from the first to make the place habitable and life pleasant, planting gardens, cooking, baking, picking and canning fruit, and when work was finished, organising parties and entertainments, of which music and dancing formed a chief part. directors of the colony were elected in general meeting, and naturally those chosen were in the first instance the original leaders of the movement, while as naturally parties came into existence who questioned the directing power of the di The rectorate, and formed a pretty powerful that is, showing the number of hours' opposition. labour given, and convertible into necessaries of life at the general stores. Headquarters comprised stores and offices, with recreation rooms, and a central hall for the general meetings, surrounded by the weatherboarded mansions of the leading colonists. On Saturday afternoons the various labour gangs knocked off work, and there was a general rush for the settlement, sometimes from quarters a dozen miles or more away, and then a social evening would follow with songs and recitations, followed by dancing, which was kept up till midnight. A good deal depended on the directorate, with whom it rested to assign to each member of the community his proper function; to make A the editor of the weekly newspaper, to set B at work composing type, while C was despatched to join the road gang. The latter was the lot most likely to befall the able-bodied young man, for the making of a grand highway was to be the first work of the new colony. From that it is easy to see that one of the leading spirits was an engineer. It would have been almost better for the colony, as it happened, had There were unquiet spirits, of course, he been a shoemaker, and had set all his with schisms and secessions, which gave rise friends to work at making shoes. But the to heated discussions and exciting episodes. schemes of the directorate were on a more But, on the whole, the colonists were loyal grandiose scale. The Government grant to to their self-elected rulers, and obstinate the colony included, it was assumed, a rebels were expelled and cast into outer valuable tract of timber, and to fell and darkness-that is, as long as the directorate square this timber, and by means of a saw-inspired public confidence. But, in truth, mill-for which there was abundant waterpower to convert the timber into boards, seemed to offer the most profitable and satisfactory outlet for the labour of the colony. There was abundant demand for timber in the settlements in the plains beneath, but from the mountain plateau of Kaweah the existing track was absolutely impracticable. Now road-making is about the roughest and coarsest work imaginable; and to set any considerable number of trained and educated men to such a task is equivalent to "cutting blocks with a razor," and a pretty severe test of the strength and goodwill of the colonists. But on the whole they stood the test famously. Working on hard fare, and with meagre comforts about them, the men of Kaweah accomplished their task; no light one, for at places the road was cut out of the face of the rock, and every yard was gained by severe and exhausting labour. While this was going on the organisation of the colony proceeded apace. There was plenty of organisation-perhaps, if anything, a little too much-with departments charged with the carrying out of various duties: a washing and mending bureau, for instance, with a lady superintendent; and a transportation department, with Jem Bellah for superintendent and head teamster a capital fellow, Jem, with no tions of the crispest and driest character. Money did not circulate in the colony, but all labour done for the community was requited by a cheque drawn on time, hard times were coming upon Kaweah, and a fate which it had little deserved was imminent, for it turned out that the timber claims, to which the colonists had every reason to believe they were entitled under their grant, and which, in effect, were to provide them with subsistence, were not recognised by the Government. The truth seems to be, that as a presumed "socialist" experiment the colony was not in good odour with the powers that be, while it was decidedly obnoxious to the private adventure "lumbering" or timberfelling companies which were its neighbours and competitors. Nor had it any powerful capitalists at its back to secure its concessions or oil the administrative wheels. And if the colonists could not cut their timber reserves, what was the use of the road that had been engineered and cut with such expenditure of labour? It was useful in a way, but they could not cut it into chunks and eat it, and as their energies had been directed into that line instead of the more obvious one of raising sufficient produce of all kinds for their own support, a general feeling of mistrust arose which was intensified when the law courts decided against the colonists, and a detachment of United States cavalry was marched into the district to prevent them from cutting any more timber. Kaweah is small, Uncle Sam is big-it is all very well to appeal to public opinion, and to send the hat round for subscriptions; but if we are to support ourselves at all, is it not time to begin? |